A wide variety of absorbent catamenial tampons have long been known in the art. It is well known that the primary function which tampons provide is leakage protection, that is, preventing menstrual discharges from leaking out of body onto an undergarment. The absorbency of tampons is generally regulated and categorized publicly so that consumers can select a tampon with appropriate absorbency in accordance with their expected level of menstrual flow. However, even when consumers have chosen the absorbency correctly, it has been found that even the best tampons do not prevent unexpected leakage. This unexpected leakage is commonly called “bypass” failure, which occurs when the menses travels in the space between the vagina and the tampon and the tampon fails to intercept the flowing menses due to lack of total coverage of the vagina by the tampon. Because bypass failure imposes unpredictability and persistent fear of leakage to consumers, it is considered unacceptable and an effective solution has been long desired by consumers.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a tampon that improves coverage and solves the problem of bypass failure. The body of the tampon of the present invention comprises a plurality of cords or strips joined at the first end, the second end, the center portion, or both the first end and second end. Not to be bound by theory, the inventors believe the nature of materials chosen to comprise the body of the tampon enable the strips or cords to exhibit improved deformation and spreading within the vagina over known tampons comprised of separate filaments and fibers, as described in for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,320,956 issued to Steiger on May 23, 1967 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,721 issued to Matthews on Jun. 22, 1982. Moreover, the nature of the materials that comprise the body of the tampon provide sufficient void volume for absorbency. It is believed that the tampon of the present invention provides significant improvement of the coverage and solves the problem of bypass failure.